Went to England

After lots of research and seeking other options (industries), I came to England on May 18th for training. I had no prior experience with this industry and had no CDL. I graduated and was hired yesterday and thought I'd share my own experience (for whatever it's worth) with this company.

Before coming here I got some really good advice from some of the folks here but, going through both recent and archived posts, read ALOT of really negative things about England. Me and my wife both were more than skeptical when I left to come here. We didn't quite know what to expect and half expected (although hoped otherwise) to meet with disappointment in a rather major way.

After going through the school and orientation, I have to say that I have nothing negative to report about this company, either in my own case or in the case of the others in my class.

We began with just under 50 people. In the end, 32 graduated and were hired. Out of the other 18 or so, some failed urinalysis, some couldn't get a medical card, some had lied (by their own admission after being caught) about their background and some simply decided it wasn't for them. A few were recycled to the next class in order to get their medical cards or CDL permits after failing the exam twice. However, by all appearances and by the report of the individual involved, England made legitimate efforts to not send anyone home unnecessarily - and no one who was sent home before graduating will be held liable for the cost of the school. They also received paid transportation (of the Greyhound sort) home.

As I siad, a couple people couldn't pass their permit exam or backing test and were recycled to the next class. There were about 4 people who failed their driving test twice. The instructors came in on the weekend and took each of these folks out for individual instruction and then tested them a third time yesterday. All of them passed and were hired.

Of those who graduated yesterday, only about 6 of us have not been assigned a trainer for the next phase. 5 or 6 of those who were assigned a trainer are still here and will be leaving between tonight and Friday morning. Everyone else has already left for their Phase One training.

I gotta say that everyone in our class is happy (so far) with their decision to come to England and no one gave anything less than a positive review of their experience so far. Granted, it's not absolutely perfect and I think most of us can think of a few things we'd personally have done differently if the decision was ours. And you can walk up and down the hallways of this building or go out in the yard and hear people badmouthing England - so it's not to say that everyone on the property is happy. But then most of those people are in some sort of trouble or here for retraining - and some would complain about Heaven itself.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. But I was here asking questions before I went to England, and I wanted to check back in and give the account of my own experience.

I have a very good friend back home who is considering learning this industry. I'd recommend England to him and let him know this own experience will be pretty much whatever HE makes of it.

Good luck to everyone - and stay safe.

 

Sorry it's been a while since posting, but it seems I rarely get somewhere that I can pick up a wifi signal - don't have an air card.

When I took my driving test, I had right about an hour and 45 minutes actual driving experience. Yes, I think it should have ALOT more - not only for my own benefit but for the benefit of others on the road around me. I'm right at the end of my phase one training now and have fortunately had no occurrences of any kind. But I won't even try to say that that is due to "extensive" training.

From what I can tell, phase one and two training is nothing more than "trainers" looking to have someone drive from them. I know my trainer only wants someone to drive nights for him because he doesn't want to. Since I got on his truck, he's tried repeatedly to get me falsify my logs and get me to drive on his logs. He likes to brag to people how he's a "trainer" and he's on paperless but can "get away with all kinds of stuff" since his students are on paper. I'm sure there are good trainers, but I think they are more rare than those who just want someone to put miles on their truck.

But - from the information posted on this forum - I had a good idea of what I might be getting into. I didn't mean that there was no truth in what others have said on this forum. Just that alot of what I had read did not match up with my own experience at the school (and, yes, it was at SLC.) Nor did I mean to imply that England is just some perfect company that has been misunderstood or unduly been given bad reports. My only point is that, from what little I've seen so far, it seems that it can be a decent place for some of us to get started. Maybe I'll come to see things differently in time. But for now I'm choosing to keep an open mind and see what happens.

By the way - of those in my class who passed the driving test and went to training - including myself - very few shifted up or down very smoothly. I've gotten good (probably not as good as most of you) but it took me a week or so of driving to really get it smooth. That came just from experience since I've had no instruction on it during training. It's trying different methods or combinations at various speeds and rpms and finding what works. My trainers idea of "training" is simply to ##### about everything (including other drivers) constantly and say educational things like, "man, ya gotta get smoother." It's all good, though. Even if I'm teaching myself - at least I'm learning.

Now if I could just learn to back this #### thing without looking like an idiot....